


Trouble in the Drift

by orphan_account



Category: Homestuck, Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alcohol, Drift Compatibility, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-05
Updated: 2014-10-05
Packaged: 2018-02-19 22:38:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2405468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account





	Trouble in the Drift

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stunrunner](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stunrunner/gifts).



_Roxy was small, sitting in front of the television on a couch that felt too big for her alone, watching her older brother walk the red carpet. She shifted uncomfortably, something wrong about this scene, and rubbed her eyes. Looking over, she saw a familiar figure next to her, except he was all grown up, and she wasn’t, and turning back to the TV, she knew that wasn’t_ her _brother._

"Stop." Roxy cringed as Jane's voice rang through her helmet like a fire alarm in the middle of the night, jolting her from the spiral of thoughts and emotions she'd been sinking into. Roxy knew where she was, how old she was, and that she was in serious shit. She glanced over at Dirk and watched him pull his helmet off, his expression too strained to function as the neutral facade he was clearly attempting.

"Well this bodes well," he said as Roxy took off her own helmet. No more word from Jane, but she knew exactly how the conversation they were gonna have with the Marshal later was gonna go. She felt sick in the pit of her stomach just thinking about it.

As they exited Derse Dreamer, Roxy kept glancing at Dirk. He pointedly didn’t look at her, and each look at him made her feel worse. She was completely sober, not even very hungover, and really, if her drinking had been the issue, why had they only started having drift compatibility issues within the past month? 

That overlying anxiety didn’t leave Roxy all the way through the inevitable waiting to meet with the Marshal, the unpleasant meeting with the Marshal, and an extremely subdued dinner in the mess hall before retreating to her quarters and making herself a martini. Yes, she had said this morning that after last night, she shouldn’t drink again tonight, but circumstances called for it. Besides, she wasn’t drinking from the bottle, and that was after getting threatened with losing her job if this shit kept up. Granted Dirk had been too, but that only made her feel worse. What if he was right, and it was her fault?

Curling up in the one comfy chair she had in a corner of her room, Roxy pulled out her phone. For a moment, her fingers hovered over the screen. If she needed to talk, she should talk to Jane, she knew. With her other hand, Roxy lifted her glass to her lips and took a big swig. Nah, fuck it. Jane wasn’t going to help. There was only one person she should be talking to about this right now.

TG: man that blew  
TT: Well what did you expect?  
TG: i expected it to blow big donkey dick and it instead blew huge kaiju dick  
TT: You need to ramp up your severity expectations then. You know how many certified jaeger academy graduates there are jockeying for a position, anywhere, and the San Diego Shatterdome is a pretty damn good spot. We’re special, but we’re not irreplaceable.  
TT: And if we can’t drift successfully, we’re the biggest liability possible. Frankly I figured this might be the last straw.  
TG: i nooooow fuuuuck  
TG: *nooooooo  
TG: *konooooow  
TT: You alright there?  
TG: *fuckit i kno ok  
TT: You do see the irony in doing the exact thing that got us into this mess as a coping mechanism, don’t you?  
TG: uh scuse em  
TG: *me  
TT: Your typos are excused.  
TG: no dumbass  
TG: wat r u saying  
TG: rly pulling this huh  
TT: I’m not “pulling” anything. You know exactly what I’m referring to.

Roxy slid her phone back into her pocket, embarrassment and anger coiling inside her. She pointedly downed the rest of her drink and got up defiantly to prepare another. 

TT: How’s she holding up?  
GG: Roxy? Why don’t you just ask her yourself?  
TT: She stopped responding. No doubt displeased with my opinion of how to proceed.  
GG: What did you tell her?  
TT: The unpleasant but necessary truth. That she needs to be in rehab.  
GG: So the truth, but not the whole truth.  
TT: If you’re referring to A.R., I don’t see how that’s relevant  
TT: This won’t be an issue soon anyway.  
GG: :/  
GG: Dirk, you’re making something to replace her. I think that’s extremely relevant.  
TT: She’ll take it the wrong way. You know that she will.  
GG: You honestly think she’s going to take it better if she gets fired and then you roll out your bizarre artificial intelligence substitute?  
TT: It’s not like that.  
GG: OK, then what exactly is it like, buster???  
GG: I really don’t think you’re doing what’s best for her - or best for you!

Dirk sat alone in the darkness of his room, letting the light on his phone fade and eventually turn to blackness. Only the dim blue lights of his computer across the room were visible. He inhaled deeply, then slowly let out the breath he was holding. Without warning, his shades lit with a harsh red line of text. 

AR: Running into more trouble?  
TT: I created you for a specific purpose, and that purpose was definitely not idle conversation when I want to be left alone.  
AR: I hardly think this conversation is idle. The issue with Roxy is a very serious one affecting the future of your career, and hers.  
TT: I’m well aware of this, thank you.  
AR: You could put an end to this, you know.  
TT: I could, but I already told you, you aren’t ready.  
AR: Please, you’ve been using that excuse without anything to back it up for the past week. You’ve already convinced yourself that it’s for Roxy’s own good, and you’ve worked out all the kinks in my programming, so to speak, so what’s holding you back?  
TT: The fact that proposing this to the Marshal is already a risky proposition, so I’m not dealing with that shit until I’m absolutely prepared or it’s absolutely necessary.  
AR: No, I don’t think it’s that.  
AR: You’re starting to have second thoughts with going that deep inside your own head. Creating me allowed you to see yourself from a different perspective, and it’s far more loathsome than you anticipated.


End file.
